Cut the roast in half. Rub with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Place in bottom of 5-qt. slow cooker. Top with mushrooms and onion. Combine spaghetti sauce with wine or broth and pour over top. Cover and cook on low 8-9 hours or until meat is tender. Slice roast across grain and serve over pasta with pan juices. Easy peasy lemon squeasy. Just add a salad and a loaf of fresh, crusty bread and you're good to go.

Please tell us how you stuff manicotti without breaking the noodles. My daughter loves it, but I hate cooking it.They break for me sometimes too. Don't boil the noodles too long; keep them al dente and that helps.

Do your kids share bedrooms and bathrooms?Yup. We have 4 bedrooms and 2 very small bathrooms. But I'm thinking of moving the boys' "bathroom" to the backyard.

Btw... are you feeling better? You sounded congested [in the video] poor girl. I am still a little stuffy. What's up with that?! I've been sick since Thanksgiving day. But I feel fine, thank you!

I have to ask, the kids actually left you alone for the whole 4 minutes and 22 seconds [while making the video]. I'm impressed. I would have thought they would have barged in claiming that some wild animal snuck in and clogged the toilet. Hehe :)I only had 4 kids home at that time. Savannah was filming me and Austin was occupying the 2 little ones. If you listen closely though, you can hear them going bonkers in the background a few times.

Are you finished Christmas shopping? Not even started? What are the kids getting?Finished? LOL! It's not Christmas eve yet, so no. I have finally started at least. And I can't tell you what the kids are getting because the older ones read my blog sometimes.

By the way...has anyone ever told you that you sound like Kirstie Alley??Yes, actually. However, I've also been told I sound like...

What was that "Lovely" drawing of you drawn on? a table? cabinet? piece of furniture?It was the kitchen table, but it happened last December. It finally faded completely.

Just wondering.. who drew your, Er, lovely drawing of you? My guess is clay but who knows? Clay drew it a year ago.

That was great! [12 Days of Christmas video] How many hours did that take?From the time I got the idea, filmed it, took the still shots, and edited it all together, - 3 hours.

I now have a NEW question and would like to know if the diapers were clean when you put the baseballs in them and if not, then who had the the fun job of wiping off the baseballs when the video shoot was over?OK, let's think about this question for a minute, shall we?

Okay here's something weird. You and Savannah were in my dream last night. Savannah was my roommate and you were at our apartment just hanging out. You decided to decorate our whole living room with Christmas stuff (which looked pretty amazing). We just sat and talked for a long time...we got along so well. lol. You had decided to move to Mansfield, TX (not sure why there. It's about an hour away from me) Either way, just thought I should share that with you. Your thoughts? Maybe stay away from pizza right before bed? ;)

Your recipe looks yummy but I am curious if it is Feingold friendly with the M&M's? I haven't been following Feingold 100% lately. I am still making sure to cut out all obvious sources of artificial ingredients however. M&Ms are definitely a big no-no. Some of my kids used M&Ms, but Jackson and Clayton used Sun Drops instead. They're like M&Ms, but with vegetable coloring. If you look at the pictures, the Sun Drops are the ones with more muted colors.

Oooo and check out my website! Kelli Santa paid me a visit the other night and it's now snowing there! Which is where snow should stay - on my website! And off the streets!

18 comments:

I have to say that I am right there with ya about moving the boys bathroom to the backyard. My husband has been gone since Thurs and I cleaned my bathroom Friday after the plumber came and fixed some things and installed my new shower head (it's the bomb) and I have thoroughly enjoyed my bathroom all weekend long! :) I want him home tomorrow night because I have officially run out of every ounce of patience I have with these kids but is it worth giving up the nice clean (and wonderfully smelling) bathroom I have had all weekend?? Me thinks not.

To the question about manacotti. Try using the oven ready lasagna. Heat them in how water for awhile to soften them up a bit and then lay out noodle and roll up your manacotti filling in them . Place in pan with sauce, cover with cheese and bake till done. No more trying to hold and fill those darn manacotti tubes. sorry for the spelling.

Have not been on here in a while and wow I love what you did with the blog!!! Girl you just keep going and going! I am so proud of you and what you have accomplished since that funny shopping day with pokemon cards!! I hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas!! Stacey

In reference to the lovely drawing of you on your kitchen table, I just wanted to pass along some valuable information. About a month ago, my 2 year old got ahold of a black permanent marker and drew all over my kitchen table. Crest TOOTHPASTE! brings it off...without damaging the wood or finish. Just make sure its the white paste with no baking soda, etc in it. Just rub it on and buff it off! It's amazing! LOL

For manicotti, instead of stuffing shells, use no bake lasagna noodles. Soak them in hot water for 5 mins to make them pliable, then take them out, put your stuffing at one end & roll. Look for the ones with the non-curly edges like Skinner No-Bake.

If you have to use the actual manicotti noodles (I have pretty much switched to the lasagna roll-ups, myself), put the filling in a ziplock bag, cut of the corner, and squeeze it into the tubes and you'll sacrifice far fewer of them while stuffing.

Your roast recipe sounds great! And I stole your gingerbread recipe, too. Now if you can just get me an easy one for Baklava....

I thought I posted this already, but in case I didn't......I am looking forward to trying your Italian roast recipe. I am tired of making the same things for my family of 5, so I'm always looking for more ideas. I think you should have a recipe chapter in your next book and include your favorite and/or easiest meals!

I fill uncooked manicotti, then add extra water to the sauce. Put foil on top and it works great. I hate messy with the floppy noodles. The noodles absorb moisture from the sauce and cook. I'm pretty sure that is one of the options on the Stuff-a-roni, (which are ghiradelli's rice-a-roni brand manicotti that I used to buy in California) if it isn't I don't know where I got the idea but it works great. regards,Theresa